Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama

Types of Courts

Those cases not referred to in the United States Constitution or granted to the federal court system by laws of Congress fall under the jurisdiction of the fifty separate state court systems.

The Alabama state court system is divided into three types of courts based on jurisdiction:

1. Courts of appellate jurisdiction include the Alabama Supreme Court, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.  These courts hear appeals for review of decisions made in a lower court.  These courts can only review alleged errors made by trial judges and do not alter findings of fact made by juries.
2. The Circuit Courts of Alabama are courts of general jurisdiction and are divided into numbered judicial circuits composed of one or more counties.  The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of Alabama consists of Mobile County as a one-county circuit and has eleven circuit judges.
3. Courts of limited and special jurisdiction include District Courts, Probate Courts, and Municipal Courts.